Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

January 21, 2019 Tastes of Lizzy T is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Any highlighted, clickable Amazon link you see is an affiliate link that we may earn advertising fees on.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

It’s been almost 5 years coming. The girls didn’t want me to do it, but we’re finally sharing our secret ingredient cinnamon rolls. The from-scratch breakfast sweet rolls that everyone craves. Gooey homemade cinnamon rolls. Our best recipe that we’ve been serving friends and family on holidays and any other day for over 12 years.

We’ll get to the secret ingredient, but let’s start right into how to make these sweet rolls, because I know you don’t want to waste any time. The exact directions and rising times are in the recipe box below, but here are some hints for making cinnamon rolls.

How do you make cinnamon rolls?

When I originally set out to make the best cinnamon roll recipe, I started with this bread dough. Over that year as I tweaked the recipe, I made the dough just a tad bit sweeter. The ingredients are very basic. I like to use Red Star Platinum yeast which is an instant yeast. This means you don’t have to let the yeast “proof”. If you don’t use instant yeast, be sure to allow the yeast to proof in the warm milk until it is frothy. This will take an extra 5 minutes or so.

Be sure that your milk is warm to activate the yeast, but not too hot so that it kills the yeast (about 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit). You’ll also want to warm the butter so it is soft and mixes in easily. Bring the eggs to room temperature also by placing them in a glass of warm water before adding them to the mix. If the ingredients are not cold, they’ll help the yeast to do what it needs to do quickly and give a beautiful rise to your cinnamon rolls.

After you have the ingredients added, it’s time to mix the dough. In the video I use a stand mixer to mix the dough. If you have bread machine you can use the dough setting to make this extremely easy. Or, go the old-fashioned route and get those hands working by kneading the bread without a mixer. Any way works. If you decide to knead with your hands, be careful not to add too much flour. The dough is supposed to be tacky, which is what keeps these homemade cinnamon rolls soft.

Again…it’s important to note that the dough will be tacky and soft. It shouldn’t completely stick all over your hands, but if you touch it should feel tacky and not dry and floury. Don’t be tempted to keep adding flour!

Cinnamon Roll Filling

We use three ingredients in our homemade cinnamon rolls filling: softened (almost melted) butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. You can add a touch of vanilla extract if you’d like. We find it’s not necessary, but feel free to do so. Mix this all together while the cinnamon rolls are rising. This only takes a few minutes!

Rolling the Cinnamon Roll Dough

After you let the dough rise in a greased covered bowl until it is double in size, you’re ready to roll the cinnamon rolls. Use a pastry mat sprinkled with flour to keep the dough from sticking. Remember…the dough will be tacky and this is the point where it is ok to add flour on the pastry mat and on top of the dough itself for easy rolling. You’ll find this dough is very easy to roll out. If it is too much of an arm workout, you’ve most likely added too much flour.

After you’ve rolled the dough, spread the cinnamon filling on top and roll-up jelly-roll style. Cut into as many rolls as you’d like. We like to do 12 rolls for a 9×13 pan (which end up deliciously large!) or if we need to feed a bigger crowd, 15 rolls in a 10×15 baking pan.

Gooey Cinnamon Rolls: Cinnabon Copycat Recipe

Before I had this homemade cinnamon rolls recipe, I was addicted to Cinnabon cinnamon rolls. They were large, soft, and gooey. I’m all about the gooey. I searched and searched (mostly recipe books because recipe websites were not a huge thing back then) and finally found a key idea. Add heavy cream to the cinnamon buns before baking. THIS is the secret ingredient and what makes the rolls rich and gooey. Cinnabon copycat recipe? That’s not what I was going for, but I think we pretty much got it.

Here’s how you do it. After the cinnamon rolls are rolled into their pretty swirls and you’ve allowed them to rise in the pan…right before they are ready to bake, warm heavy cream in a small bowl. Why warm the cream? Because your rolls have risen in warmth and you don’t want to add refrigerator-cold cream to your cinnamon rolls. Adding warm (not hot!) heavy cream will keep the rolls rising as they should during baking. Pour the heavy cream overtop all of the rolls and watch that rich cream soak in and around the cinnamon roll dough.

Can you make the cinnamon rolls without heavy cream? Yes. Will they be good? Yes. Will they be as gooey? No. I find that the heavy cream helps the filling of the cinnamon rolls to be smoother and not as grainy. So just try it, K?

Cinnamon Roll Icing

After the homemade cinnamon rolls have baked and look like cinnamon heaven, it’s time to frost them. You can use a simple powdered sugar glaze or a store-bought fluffy white frosting if you’d like. But we prefer our cream cheese icing. Butter, powdered sugar, cream cheese and extract (either vanilla or maple). You could even throw in a touch of cinnamon to make a cinnamon glaze. We’ve done it all!

You can add the icing while the rolls are warm and allow it to soak in, or if you’d like a pretty frosted look, spread the cream cheese icing on when the rolls are at room temperature.

And that my friends, is one of our BEST family recipes. My girls were hesitant to share our family secret ingredient for homemade cinnamon rolls, but so many of you have asked, they reluctantly agreed because they love you and want to see you happy. 🙂

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

We often make the cinnamon rolls and get them to the point of the second rise (when they are rolled out, cut up and put in the pan). Cover and refrigerate until morning. The morning you want to bake them, pull them out of the refrigerate and allow them to rise. Plan about at least an hour for this so you aren’t waiting too long! Then let them do their second rise. Pour on the cream and let them bake.

What You Need to Make Cinnamon Rolls

Stand Mixer: Ok, you don’t 100% need this, but it does make life easier.

For the Frosting:

Instructions

Pour the warm milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast overtop.

Add the eggs, butter, salt and sugar.

Add the flour and mix using the beater blade just until the ingredients are barely combined. Allow the mixture to rest for 5 minutes so the flour has time to soak up the liquids.

Scrape the dough off the beater blade and remove it. Attach the dough hook.

Beat the dough on medium speed for 5-7 minutes or until the dough is elastic and smooth. **The dough will be tacky and will still be sticking to the sides of the bowl. That's ok! Don't be tempted to add more flour at this point.

Spray a large bowl with cooking spray.

Use a rubber spatula to remove the dough from the mixer bowl and place it in the greased large bowl.

Cover the bowl with a towel or wax paper.

Set the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rise until double. I like to turn on the oven to the lowest setting for 1-2 minutes. Then turn off the oven and place the dough to rise in there. It normally takes about 30 minutes for the dough to rise. Do not allow the dough to rise too much or your cinnamon rolls will be airy.

While the dough is rising, prepare the cinnamon filling. In a medium bowl, combine the soft butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, mixing until well combined. Set aside.

Sprinkle a pastry mat generously with flour. Turn out the dough onto the pastry mat and sprinkle the top of the dough with additional flour.

Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough to about a 12x15" rectangle.

Use a rubber spatula to smooth the cinnamon filling over the whole dough rectangle.

Starting on the long end, roll the dough up tightly jelly roll style.

Cut into 12 slices and place in a greased 9x13 baking pan.*

Cover the pan and allow the rolls to rise for 20 minutes or until nearly double.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Warm the heavy cream until the chill is off. Don't make it hot...you just don't want it cold. It should be warm to the touch.

Once the rolls have risen, pour the heavy cream over the top of the rolls, allowing it to soak down in and around the rolls.

Bake at 375 degrees for 17-19 minutes, until the rolls are lightly golden brown and the center rolls are cooked through.

While the rolls are cooling, prepare the cream cheese frosting.

In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and butter using a hand mixer. Blend well.

Add in your favorite extract and the powdered sugar. Beat until combined.

Spread the frosting over the cooled rolls.

Store in an airtight container.

Video

Notes

**Different yeast calls for slightly different proofing methods. We follow Red Star Platinum's temperature guidelines. Please check your yeast packet to see what temperature the milk should be at.

*For smaller rolls, cut the dough into 15 slices and use a 10x15" baking pan.

*If you only make 12 rolls, you may end up with extra frosting.

*I have halved the frosting recipe ingredients since originally posting it.

*The Calorie count shows the amount with ALL of the frosting used. There will be less calories in the rolls if you don't use all of the frosting at once.

*Time shown does not include time for rising, so this recipe will take longer than 49 minutes. Plan about 2-2 1/2 hours with rising time and everything.

Tried making these Christmas Eve and I’m worried because the dough isn’t proofing or rising a second time very well….do you think it would be safe to let them rise overnight and bake first thing in the morning with the warmed cream that would be about 5-6 hours

Made these on Christmas Eve/morning here in rural France, and they are beautiful! I tried to stop at the pre-second-rise phase after Santa came at 2 am, and with no room in my fridge, left them in our cold stone kitchen by the window (maybe 50 degrees overnight?). When we woke, they had risen anyway! Baked them in a stainless steel round dish, and as they had risen together tightly, the bottoms stayed uncooked/gooey. I have returned them to the oven in the hopes of bringing them around with foil on top, and I know this is user error… but just wanted to ask your preferred baking dish for these—glass? Any tips on ensuring thorough cooking without going too far? Did I let them get too crowded? Do you find a difference between rectangular and round dish? Is it ok for them to be touching? I love this recipe and am so happy with these over previous attempts but just want to get it right for next time. Merry Christmas! And merci!

I made these today for Christmas. So delicious. I didn’t have heavy cream to put over them prior to baking so I used evaporated milk. Everyone loved them and it will now be a holiday tradition. Thank you!!

I made these for my family on Xmas eve, let them stay in the fridge overnight, took out and put in a warm oven for 1 hour before baking. Everyone LOVED them. I’ve never made anything with yeast before and they can out perfectly. Thank you!

I made these this morning. I won’t make any other cinnamon roll recipe now, I’ve been ruined haha! I hand kneaded and was afraid I had too much flour on the board that the dough took on but they turned out perfectly. Thank you so much for this recipe!

I have tried this recipe twice in the last week and I don’t know what the problem is. I’ve used two different quick rise yeast, Red Star and Fleischmann’s and they didn’t rise to double the first time and didn’t really rise at all the second time. The first time I made them they didn’t rise in the oven either, but they tasted OK. I haven’t rolled the second batch yet, and I’m really apprehensive. What now?

I’d make sure your liquid is at the right temperature and that you are giving them enough time to rise properly. Set the oven on the lowest temperature and allow it to heat slightly. Place the covered bowl in the oven and allow the dough to rise. Are you high altitude? Even weather can affect bread making.

Wow! These are incredible! The dough is super light, and every bite of the roll had the perfect combination of cinnamon-y sweetness! They were a hit at Christmas breakfast and sounds like they will become a tradition. I made the dough the day before and did the 2nd rise in the morning, as was suggested in some of the comments. Thank you to your girls for allowing you to share this delicious recipe! They are helping spread culinary joy throughout the world 😊

Made these last night (Christmas Eve) then took them out this morning for their second rise to serve the for Christmas brunch this afternoon. It did need to get up to room temperature (about an hour) before we could start the second rise this morning. And once they were baked the rolls themselves were clearly superior to any recipe I’ve ever had or made. The dough recipe is perfection and the secret trick is gold. So easy and I followed the recipe exactly for everything except the frosting (I used my own frosting recipe we love). The only thing I plan to change going forward is the sugar amount in the filling. If you are looking for Cinnabon sweetness, the recipe as it is will make you happy. For my family it was way too sweet (even substituting my own frosting recipe which is not as sweet as the one in the recipe). I will be using 1/2 the brown sugar next time. But other than that, this produced the best homemade rolls yet. Just in case anyone is interested the frosting I make is 8oz full fat cream cheese (softened), 1/2 cup butter (softened), 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and only 1/2 a cup powdered sugar. It’s still sweet, but the tangy balances it. I sometimes add orange zest to the frosting if I want something different.

These are definitely the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever made. I put the rolls in the refrigerator before the second proofing on Christmas Eve, took them out of the fridge on Christmas morning and let them proof a second time before proofing. The dough was slow to rise after being in the refrigerator all night so after an hour or so of little to no rise I turned on my oven to 200 F for 5 minutes, turned it off and put the pan in to help speed up the rise just a bit. Worked like a charm. I also addd some chopped pecans to the filling…delicious. This will be my go-to recipe from now on! Thank you for sharing!

OMG this recipe is a keeper. It was easy and faster to prepare than other recipes I have seen and tried. The batch size is perfect for my family. I added pecans to mine and it was wonderful. I dont know what the secret ingredient did to the rolls but they were so delicious. I am making more this weekend for niece and nephew coming to visit me. This recipe is getting added to my collection…

I made this recipe for Christmas Eve and it was a hit! I live at ~4,000′ elevation in a very dry area and the only changes I made to the recipe for altitude were to lower the baking temp for the first 7 minutes (350 F, then up to 375 F for the rest of baking) and use maybe a few tablespoons more milk.

We’re not frosting people here, so instead of putting maple syrup in the frosting I added a couple tablespoons directly to the filling mixture, along with 1/4 tsp cardamom. I used a thermometer to test that the rolls were done in the middle because that has been my cinnamon roll bane. They baked perfectly! My other cinnamon roll nightmare has been not enough sweetness in the roll and these kept their sugary filling in place all through cooking. I aided this by pinching the bottom of each cinnamon roll’s outer edges to keep the filling from touching the bottom of the pan. This helped them be easier to pull out of the pan when done cooking as well, though it does cause a little bit of the middle to pop out (which I’m okay with, and think it looks kind of cute).

The added cream scared me (I was afraid of soggy dough!) but I’m SO glad I added it–it made them so much richer and more decadent than I could have expected. Thank you for the FABULOUS recipe!

My family and I absolutely loved your recipe. These are the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had! I too was a bit nervous about adding the heavy whipping cream but I was so wrong! I was wondering if you have ever used gluten free flour? My son’t girlfriend has a gluten allergy and I am looking for things I can make for her to enjoy as well. I have never baked with gluten free flour so I am not sure of what adjustments to make. Thanks for any help you can give me!

I made these Christmas Eve. I’m in my mid-fifties and my first time ever baking something from scratch. I did exactly as you did and was blown away at how they turned out. The dough was very forgiving. My wife was speechless. I want to sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for posting the recipe and video. Baking something from scratch and having success is very empowering.

First off WOW!!!! My fam was nervous about trying a new recipe, I’ve been using the old one for years. To say they LOVED them is an understatement. More and more have been requested! 2nd, I made everything including soaking them in the milk and refrigerated them the night before. I set them out in the morning for 20 min before baking them and they were great!

This is the best and easiest cinnamon roll recipe I have ever tried. My family loved them on Christmas morning. My only variation was to add pecans. My father said they were better than cinnabon. I will be making them again this weekend. Definately a keeper!!

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Tastes of Lizzy T is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Any highlighted, clickable Amazon link you see is an affiliate link.